Adding to the Brian Cashman list of you can't make up stuff like this.

The Yankees have a TV program on the Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network. On it people like former New York Times sports writer and current Yankee TV analyst Jack Curry tell Yankee fans what a great job is being done by Yankee general manager Brian Cashman...The Cubs traded four players, including Gleyber Torres, for relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman. Any four for one trade suggests that none of the four are anywhere as good as the one, especially if the one pitches fewer than 70 innings in a full season and Chapman was acquired just to pitch in the tournament. Chapman became a free agent after the season, the Cubs made no attempt to sign Chapman ...
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On that same Yankees Hot Stove TV program Jack Curry extolled the virtues of outfielder Billy McKinney. They put on the screen McKinney's minor league numbers, which came to an unimpressive .764 OPS.

The problem is that it includes OPS:
A+ .804
AA .714

Even worse, and Curry did mention this, McKinney's AA numbers went down in his second AA season, 2016:
2015 .766
2016 .680

McKinney has been a pro since 2013, four seasons. McKinney has never played at AAA. Until a player performs at AAA that player is unproven at best. If, in addition, the player has mediocre numbers, what the heck are the Yankees doing suggesting that he could possibly become an impact player on the Yankees?

Adding to the Brian Cashman list of you can't make up stuff like this.

The Yankees have a TV program on the Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network. On it people like former New York Times sports writer and current Yankee TV analyst Jack Curry tell Yankee fans what a great job is being done by Yankee general manager Brian Cashman. On last night's program:

... the Cubs outbid the Yankees by offering $1.7 million. The Yankees couldn't afford that or was Cashman too inept yet again? Either way, it's another failure by Cashman.Had Cashman already signed Torres, then he could have traded Chapman for other "assets" ...
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The Cubs traded four players, including Gleyber Torres, for relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman. Any four for one trade suggests that none of the four are anywhere as good as the one, especially if the one pitches fewer than 70 innings in a full season and Chapman was acquired just to pitch in the tournament. Chapman became a free agent after the season, the Cubs made no attempt to sign Chapman and ...

Yesterday the Yankees beat Tampa 8-4 in Yankee Stadium bringing their record to 60-56 still with a shot of qualifying for the tournament...Three of the Yankees were in AAA August 1 when the Yankees traded DH Carlos Beltran, supposedly starting a youth movement. Sanchez was brought up two days later but Austin and Judge played their first major league game yesterday, August 13. The Yankees were preoccupied with Alex Rodriguez who was released yesterday making room for one of them.Anyway, in their first plate appearances (PA) Austin and Judge homered, back-to-back jacks. Supposedly it's the first time in history that teammates homered in their first PA in the same game. PA is more specific than at bat (AB), since PA could include BB, HBP, SF, sac. Austin and Judge homered the very first time that they had the opportunity. Hicks, Gregorius and Castro also homered. All five are younger than 27, supposedly the first time that had happened for the Yankees.
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At best Judge and Austin had mixed results. Judge had a really good start, then nothing. Austin started and finished well but in between hit poorly and sat often.

Reviewing the blindness of Judge and Austin should merely confirm what was readily apparent when they were playing. Both were over matched, especially Judge. Under ordinary circumstances Judge would have been sent back down to preserve his confidence and to let him work out his problems. But Yankee general manager Brian Cashman had too much of his credibility invested in the youth movement, especially after giving up on the season with more than one third of the games to play. It's a disgrace that will haunt the Yankees, though outside of this blog little, if any, criticism can be found.

Should Judge and Austin be tossed aside? No, of course not. But they should be among a group of minor league players who might make the team in 2017. Neither should be considered a likely impact player like Sanchez.

So why are so many so blind to the blind spots of Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin? Is it the blind faith of the baseball fan? Fans often vacillate between despair and euphoria, both out of all reasonable proportion to reality and facts.

The caution to Yankee fans is that their faith is in Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner. Think about that long and hard.

Born: September 6, 1991 in Conyers, GA (Age 25 years, 103 days) High School: Heritage HS (Conyers, GA)Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 13th round of the 2010 amateur draft.Signed June 24, 2010.Debut: August 13, 2016 (Age 24 years, 342 days)Rookie Status: Still Intact through 2017

See previous post on the blind spot of Aaron Judge. Tyler Austin has two blind spots.

Split

G

GS

PA

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

SB

CS

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

OPS

TB

GDP

HBP

SH

SF

IBB

ROE

BAbip

tOPS+

sOPS+

vs RHP

25

63

60

4

12

2

0

3

7

1

0

3

26

.200

.238

.383

.621

23

1

0

0

0

0

1

.290

63

66

vs LHP

12

27

23

3

8

1

0

2

5

0

0

4

10

.348

.444

.652

1.097

15

0

0

0

0

0

0

.545

190

195

Austin can't hit righty pitchers. Austin has OPS v. righties even lower than Judge: .621 to .679. And Judge is even worse against lefties, his blind spot.

But check out Austin's home/road splits in his only major league season. Yeah, yeah, small sample size.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Aaron Judge: Yankee phenom in the mind of Brian Cashman, Yankee general manager.

Position: RightfielderBats: Right, Throws: Right Height: 6' 7", Weight: 275 lb.Born: April 26, 1992 in Linden, CA (Age 24 years, 235 days)Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1st round (32nd pick) of the 2013 amateur draft.Signed July 12, 2013.Debut: August 13, 2016 (Age 24 years, 109 days) vs. TBR 4 AB, 2 H, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SBRookie Status: Still Intact through 2017So, on April 26, 2017 Aaron Judge will be a bouncing Baby Bomber eligible to be 2017 Rookie of the Year at the ripe old age of 25.

But there are obvious concerns based on his small sample size of 2016 plate appearances with the Yankees. One has been mentioned a lot: 42 Strike Outs in 84 At Bats. Another has been overlooked.

Split

G

GS

PA

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

SB

CS

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

OPS

TB

GDP

HBP

SH

SF

IBB

ROE

BAbip

tOPS+

sOPS+

vs RHP

26

77

69

10

14

2

0

4

10

0

1

6

32

.203

.273

.406

.679

28

2

1

0

1

0

1

.294

122

82

vs LHP

11

18

15

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

10

.067

.222

.067

.289

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.200

4

-15

Against lefty pitchers: one hit, a single, in 15 AB. Even worse: 10 SO in 15 AB. TEN!

What the heck is that? Judge has only a .679 OPS against righty pitchers but .289 against lefties. That makes Aaron Judge bad against righties and so bad against left handed pitchers that he might be declared legally blind.

Sycophants will offer the lame pun that it's a rush to judgement. But they have no inhibition supporting Judge despite data that suggests that he is not able to perform at the major league level.

Of the top 14, three are currently free agents who could be signed by any team:
2. Edwin Encarnacion OPS+ 146
7. Jose Bautista OPS+ 140
9. Mark Trumbo OPS+ 112

Trumbo hit a career high 47 HR in 2016, the most of any player. Trumbo is fairly one dimensional, which is the general knock on sluggers this off season. Encarnacion and Bautista have solid OPS+ (On Base plus Slugging averages adjusted for ball parks and era), so they are not all or nothing players in the batter's box.

One recent explanation for not signing Bautista is that teams are tired of his angry act. Bautista is already 36 years old. Encarnacion, however, will turn 34 January 7. So while he is older than teams want he is by no means ancient. Yet there he sits, waiting for a deal.

Jason Heyward was the big free agent signing a year ago. The Chicago Cubs acted according to the then prevailing wisdom that Jason Heyward would save them so many runs in the outfield and was young enough that he was worth it.

2016

26

Chicago Cubs

$21,666,666

6.000

contracts

2017

27

Chicago Cubs

$28,166,667

7.000

2018

28

Chicago Cubs

$28,166,667

Has right to opt out of contract following 2018 season.

2019

29

Chicago Cubs

$20,000,000

Has right to opt out of contract following 2019 season if he has 550 PA that year.

2020

30

Chicago Cubs

$21,000,000

2021

31

Chicago Cubs

$21,000,000

2022

32

Chicago Cubs

$22,000,000

2023

33

Chicago Cubs

$22,000,000

Earliest Free Agent: 2024

2016 OPS+ 70. That means that Heyward in the batter's box was 70 percent of league average. In other words he was a good hitting pitcher, just one with 592 plate appearances. Do you think that Heyward will opt out after next season?

The guy will turn 34 in January. Who the heck couldn't use his bat for the next few years? Number five in Home Runs the last five years was David Ortiz, who was 40 years old during the 2016 season. 2012-2016 OPS+ 154.

It seems that general managers would rather follow the prevailing conventional wisdom than basic common sense. Theo Epstein of the Cubs is hailed as a genius for winning championships with two teams that had not won for VERY long times: Red Sox and Cubs. The Cubs won in spite of Epstein signing Heyward to what may be the worst free agent deal of all time.

Joe Maddon just won the World Series as manager of the Chicago Cubs, their first championship since 1908. Maddon made fundamental mistakes and was lucky they didn't give the title to the Cleveland Indians.The worst were Maddon's use of monster closer Aroldis Chapman.
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See, winning makes mistakes acceptable. But it's foolish to copy obvious mistakes. Which brings us to such an example, the continuing madness of Yankee general manager Brian Cashman.

Encarnacion preferred to re-sign with Toronto this off season but turned down $20 million for each of the next four years. Encarnacion may have been foolish. But what about a team like the Yankees? In addition to committing to 29 year old Chapman for $17 million for each of the next five, the Yankees also signed 37 year old Matt Holliday for $13 million but for just one year. But that's $30 million in 2017 for a team that is supposed to be committed to a youth movement. Wouldn't the $30 million have been better spent on Encarnacion who is likely to do something that no Yankee did in 2016 and are unlikely to do in 2017: hit at least 30 home runs?It's not too late. The Yankees could offer Encarnacion the same deal that he turned down from the Toronto Blue Jays: $80 million for four years. Those would be Encarnacion playing ages 34, 35, 36, 37. That seems perfectly reasonable but maybe just not according to current and fleeting conventional Wisdom.